Flødekartofler (Danish Scalloped Potatoes)

We’ve just been hit by a snowstorm here in the northeastern US, which calls for lots of hearty and filling dinner dishes! One of our favorites is these flødekartofler, or Danish scalloped potatoes. If you’re familiar with French potatoes au gratin, these are pretty much the same dish. Very simple to make, and perfect served with any main protein, or a side salad and some fresh baked bread.

If you’ve ever been to Denmark, you’ll know that potatoes are an important and essential part of the Danes’ diet. And that’s fair enough, because you can do so much with potatoes. Whether you boil, roast, bake, or mash them, they will always be delicious. That is, as long as you season them well! Personally, whenever we don’t know what to make for dinner or what to serve as a side dish, potatoes are one of our go-to vegetables. They’re super underrated in the US, but are so versatile and complement most main dinner dishes. This recipe in particular is absolutely delicious. The potatoes become really creamy and rich after being baked in the oven, and the garlicky, cheesy flavors are just unbeatable.

This recipe is truly so simple. Just slice your potatoes thinly, layer into your dish with chopped onions, pour the cream mixture over the top, and bake! The recipe is also adaptable – for example, you can add other vegetables to the potatoes, such as leeks or spinach, or even carrots. You can also use milk instead of heavy cream if that’s what you have on hand! We hope you try the recipe, and let us know in the comments how it goes.

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Flødekartofler (Danish Scalloped Potatoes)

5 from 6 votes

These creamy potatoes are an amazing side dish to any type of meat or main protein, or can be served on their own with a salad and some bread. They are so simple, yet so delicious!

Servings 8 servings

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 35 minutes mins

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IMPORTANT NOTE:

We always bake using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and milliliters). We can’t promise that our cup measurements will be as accurate! Additionally, we bake and develop our recipes in a convection (fan) oven.

Ingredients

 

MetricUS Customary

 

1x2x3x

• 1.4 kg potatoes (corresponds to about 10 medium sized potatoes; we like to use gold potatoes, but you can use whatever potato you prefer!)
• 1 medium to small onion
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• A pinch of nutmeg
• 475 ml heavy cream
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried thyme)
• Grated parmesan (optional)

Instructions

 

• Preheat your oven to 375 F (190 C).
• Wash and peel your potatoes.
  
• Slice the potatoes into about 1/8 inch pieces. We slice off an edge so that the potato lays on the cutting board without rolling around, and then set aside that piece along with the end pieces to layer on the bottom of the baking dish, since they are more irregular! We like to leave the potato slices in the order that we cut them on the cutting board so it's much easier to "shingle" the potatoes into the dish later. If your potato pieces are a little thicker, don't worry too much – they just may take a little bit longer to cook through!
  
• Peel and cut your onion in half. Then thinly slice your onion as well, between 1/8" and 1/4" in thickness.
  
• Butter the bottom of a baking dish. Feel free to use a different size (ours is about 12inches long and about 9 inches wide). Depending on your dish, it may end up changing the cooking time slightly.
  
• Add all the end pieces/irregular pieces in a single layer on the bottom of the dish.
  
• Arrange 1 layer of potatoes over the end pieces, following the curve of the dish and overlapping the potatoes slightly so it creates a shingle effect. We end up creating one ring around the edge and a smaller ring in the middle, with a few pieces added to the center to complete the layer.
  
• Follow by layering half of your sliced onion on top. We like to make the curve of the onions follow the curve of the potatoes, but this is definitely optional! This layer will be hidden by another layer anyway.
  
• Repeat those steps one more time, adding potatoes in a single layer, and then followed by the other half of the sliced onions.
  
• Again, we like to curve the onions in the same direction as the round edge of the potatoes, but you can arrange the layer however you would like!
  
• Add together your heavy cream, thyme, nutmeg, garlic powder, salt, and pepper in a bowl or liquid measuring cup (makes for easy pouring over the potatoes!). Remember that you are salting 3 pounds of potatoes, so you may need more salt than you initially think! We do recommend tasting the mixture. It should be quite salty, so if you really can't taste much salt, be sure to add more!
  
• Mix the heavy cream mixture together well, so all the seasoning is evenly distributed.
  
• Pour the cream mixture over your potatoes and onions. If using a different dish, just make sure that you can see the edge of the cream peeking up the sides (it should cover about 75% of the potatoes). You may need a little bit more cream if it's too low in the dish!
  
• Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes.
• After 45 minutes, uncover the potatoes.
  
• Top with shredded parmesan if you want, and bake for an additional 30 minutes.
  
• The potatoes are done when the top is golden and the potatoes are fork tender. If it needs more time, just be sure to cover the potatoes again if it's getting too dark on the top. Enjoy!
  

Video

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Danish

Keyword: hearty, nutmeg, onion, pastry cream, potato, rich, thyme

Difficulty: Beginner